World Cup predictions pool

[dethwing]

Ack, I know...3rd place!

[L'lanmal]

A couple decent chances tomorrow for a team to have 2 wins in the group stages (6 points) and still not advance. That hasn't happened before in the current group format.

Spain/Chile should be interesting. Chile just needs a draw, but isn't known for playing it safe...

[Scurra]

My favourite joke today - This World Cup is just like the Second World War. The French capitulate early, the US turns up late and we (the English) are left to deal with the bloody Germans...
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New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[Amb]

And the Anzacs supported each other all the way home.

[MatthewV]

If Spain and Switzerland both win 1-0, who advances?

Spain would be 2 win, 3 GF, 1GA
Chile would be 2 win, 2 GF, 1GA
Switzerland would be 2 win, 2 GF, 1GA
Honduras would sill lose.

[dethwing]

After GD, and GF, it goes H2H. Since Chile beat the Swiss, it would be Spain and Chile.

[MatthewV]

I guess that makes sense.

We need a group that only scores draws someday.

[L'lanmal]

Obpuzzle:

What is the least number of total goals to be scored by a group such that
a) Every game ended in a tie
and
b) Both 1st and 2nd place can be determined without the drawing of lots.

[Zag]

I think it is 6: A vs. B tie 2-2, A vs. C tie 1-1, all others tie 0-0

[L'lanmal]

That's what I had in mind.

[PuzzleScot]

Not really commented on this yet, so...

Anyone noticed that all but one Americas teams qualified (Honduras), and all but one African team (Ghana) failed to qualify - Unless Cote d'Ivoire and Brazil both win by a collective margin of at least 9 goals!

The volatility of the group stages was clearly demonstrated by NZ - a single goal in their last match, and they would have been top of the group! Since they didn't get it, they are off home. Being a Scotsman, I know just how cruel the game is. I mean, losing to Macedonia?!

I like the joke about the WW2 analogy - but couldn't that be said every world cup???

Oh, and who is going to put England out this time? Germany or Argentina?

Brazil v Argentina in the final, methinks...

[dethwing]

Booo, another early exit. To Ghana. AGAIN.

Well good luck in the next round: Beat Uruguay!

[MatthewV]

Go Uruguay! (and Ghana would be my second favorite team, it is a shame they will lose to mighty Uruguay). An excellent day in the world of football!

[Zag]

[Lepton*]

Women wearing the orange dresses depicted in jesternl's earlier post have been arrested. The orange dresses are supposedly part of an "ambush marketing" attempt by a beer company. For further reflection, here's another image of the dresses.

[jesternl]

I can't find a beer maker logo anywhere, can you post some more pics of different angles?

[Aga*]

Orangey-boom?

[jesternl]

there came the Boom

[Lepton*]

I realized that I made a mistake, and it would be bad manners to edit my post. I meant to write that the girls had been "detained", rather than "arrested".

Just as a reminder, here's another picture of the orange dresses:

[edit: from another angle, as requested. I don't see any beer logos.]

[MatthewV]

I think the next three games will be some of the best matches. I personally think Japan vs Paraguay, Spain vs Portugal, and Netherlands vs Brazil are all approximately equal matchings.

[PuzzleScot]

[PuzzleScot]

In the interest of fairness, since Budweiser is after all the official sponsor...
Although I do feel the dutch are classier, and more subtle than the Americans (who aren't?!)




(Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton at a Sorority party!)

[Lepton*]

Definitely less classy. The orange dresses explicitly do not sport logos. They come free in cases of Bavaria beer, however.

Matthew: Japan/Paraguay was (imho predictably) fairly boring. The problem with the Spain/Portugal and Brazil/Netherlands matches is that all four of those teams will probably set out a defensive, possession-based approach. Think of the Switzerland-Spain game. All four teams have incredible front lines, but base their gameplan on a solid back four, two holding midfielders, and a hope for individual flair from the front four. So we'll end up with 4 attacking 6. The winning teams will be those that can get more bodies forward: Maicon for Brazil down the wing, Xabi Alonso (injured?) or Busquets starting from the deep midfield for Spain, Tiago and Meireles doing the same for Portugal, and the Netherlands' van der Weil opening up space on the right for Robben.

My match of the tournament is Germany/Argentina on Saturday.

[Lepton*]

Follow-up: Portugal lost because they were getting overrun in the mid-field and weren't able to build up attacking play. Spain won because David Villa and Sergio Ramos stretched the play onto the wings. I noticed that Xavi tends to hold up the ball and wait for the holding midfielders and fullbacks, even when he has the other three attacking players with him. Interesting.

[MatthewV]

I appears that someone has the advantage of actually watching the games.

These last two games were certainly close and maybe boring at the same time.

[jesternl]

I've been listening to games in the radio, which still has an undeniable appeal, at least to me.

Oh, and yeah baby!

[dethwing]

Ouch. Ghana misses PK at the buzzer. Now needs PKs to make semis.

[MatthewV]

Uruguay wins!!!!!

[dethwing]

Blast. Now I have no teams left to root for.

[Lepton*]

[Dragon Phoenix]

Indeed.

On a side note, I think I have never felt in the second part of the tournament. Oh well.
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[dethwing]

D'oh. My score pick was right on till just now. Drat.

[Zag]

Much Grats to DP, all the other Dutch GL'ers, and everyone else from Holland, especially including the team itself, of course!

You do realize what this means, right?

You have to post some more pics of the girls in orange mini-dresses!!

[jesternl]

i'll see what I can do for you..
is girls without orange dresses ok too?

[PuzzleScot]

Aparently the ladies' world cup follows the main event.
I don't understand why there hasn't been so much publicity about it?

I can't make out the logos on this promo pic. Can anyone help?
http://images.phapit.com/uploaded_pics/phap4451.jpg

[dethwing]

Someone is going to get their first world cup. Also, Europe will win their first cup outside of Europe.

[PuzzleScot]

[Quailman]

When I got home from work yesterday I tried to watch the World Cup highlight show on ESPN. Mrs. Q didn't want to see some South African soccer tournament on the big TV in our living room. She had rented a movie and wanted to watch it instead. It was Invictus.

[dethwing]

Oh the irony...

[dethwing]

In the 18 previous world cups:

One, 1934, had no semifinal.
One, 1950, had a group final.
In the other 16, the 3rd place team correctly predicts the champion 12 times.
This includes the 1974/78 cups where the "semifinal" was a group stage. In both cases, the 3rd and champion played in the same group.

Moreover, the last 4 cups have all been predicted by the 3rd place team.